Yes, there was a second day at Comic Con

But, no, I'm not going to rehash it here.

For all the fun and excitement, pop over to The Conspiracy Apes, the blog I started to chronicle the happenings leading up to the publication of our first Apes novel Conspiracy of the Planet of the Apes next spring.

I do have some other things going on here at the Manifesto, however. Yes, I will someday finish my Tales from the Tomato Patch series of flash stories. No, it did not happen by the end of July like I had hoped. This was due in no small part to my trip to San Diego, and the fact that my health was absconded by some variation of the flu shortly after returning home. Life is better now, but there was a night of chills and a 102 degree fever where all seemed lost.

But before I get back to the stories, I have an exciting new development with this blog: the introduction of interviews!

I had mentioned the possibility of this before, and it's time has come. A long time ago I had worked for a comic industry periodical called Comic Culture, and among the feature stories and reviews, I also got a chance to conduct interviews with creators. It was probably my favorite aspect of working for the paper (aside from transcribing the tapes, hated that part of it). I loved getting the chance to sit down with people I admired, or getting to know creators I knew little about. I talked to Stan Sakai of Usagi Yojimbo fame, who was really nice and who I crossed paths with again a couple of years ago. Sadly that time he was late for a panel, I for a meet up with friends, and I didn't get to talk to him for more than a few seconds (it was a phone interview anyway, so I didn't even have the opportunity for him to say "Hey, you look familiar...." I also interviewed both Walt and Louise Simonson, on separate occasions, the second of which my partner and I were treated to pancakes made by Louise.

So, I had a good time doing them and have lately wanted to do more. The next post will see the first of what I hope is many interviews with people I admire from the literary and comic worlds. It features author Chris Roberson, who I became acquainted with a couple of years back, and is also one helluva nice guy in his own right.

I hope you enjoy this new facet of the Manifesto, and I'll be back soon with more Tomato Tales. Promise.